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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be horrified by children´s behaviour on flight?

151 replies

Happy36 · 03/08/2014 16:11

Am I unreasonable to think that one should keep an eye on one´s children during a flight and try to ensure that their behaviour does not upset other passengers unnecessarily?

Just had a horrendous experience with what felt like a whole plane full of children (not toddlers - children aged between 5 and 15) screaming, shouting, running around, dropping rubbish, bouncing over the seats, ignoring the airline staff. Children will be children, that much can´t be denied, but what horrified me was the parents´ total oblivion to the situation.

Also I felt sorry for the airline staff and wonder whether there are any possible ways for airlines to encourage passengers more strongly against indulging in anti-social behaviour.

OP posts:

Original poster

Happy36 · 03/08/2014 16:12

^ It wasn´t a school trip - the "culprits" were not all known to one another.

OP posts:

Lottiedoubtie · 03/08/2014 16:13

15 year olds screaming and shouting? Bouncing on seats? Are you sure?

nicename · 03/08/2014 16:13

We were

BellaVita · 03/08/2014 16:16

How do you know they were 15?

HesterShaw · 03/08/2014 16:17

She didn't say "15 year olds" - she said the age range was 5 to 15.

I bloody hate flying and I bloody hate badly behaved children and their idiot parents on aeroplanes. They act like their needs trump everyone else's and the refuse to chastise the little darlings.

YANBU.

nicename · 03/08/2014 16:18

oops. We were once on the second leg of a trip down under (so second leg of a 24 hour flight). A lovely group of 2 families - 6 kids in total, all under the age of 5 or 6 - 'entertained' everyone. Singing, crying, arguing, running, marching up and down the aisles, throwing food, throwing up, etc whilst the parents drank or slept (I suspct they were just wearing the eyemasks and pretending). No toys, books, colouring games etc were in evidence so I am not all that surprised. The parents made no attempt to quieten them down or apologise to the poor staff.

Lottiedoubtie · 03/08/2014 16:20

I'm just surprised that a range of unrelated children from such a huge age range were behaving like this.

I've never experienced more than one or two annoying kids at a time on flights. Maybe I've been spectacularly lucky?

TheBloodManCometh · 03/08/2014 16:21

As a Nanny, flights are my worst nightmare. Next week I have to look after a 3, 4 and 10 year old on two flights - a 2 hour one followed immediately by a 12 hour one. The children are rarely the issue though. Just me and them - they keep in line. But with their parents? Awful. Screaming for sweets or iPads etc etc.
Their parents wind them.up and make them worse and then I get the blame.

HATE flying with kids.

CleanLinesSharpEdges · 03/08/2014 16:25

YANBU. Holiday companies have already caught on with adult only hotels, it won't be long before you can get child free flights, for an extra charge of course and there will be plenty of people willing to pay it.

MuttonCadet · 03/08/2014 16:27

Kids kicking the back of my seat on flights drives me nuts, and yes, the parents are always sat next to them, ignore bad behaviour.

I now just turn round and ask the kids to please stop doing it. I find it works better than talking to the parents.

SqueakySqueak · 03/08/2014 16:30

YANBU. My mother had to fly and a 10 year old was kicking her seat. She turned around and very nicely asked him to stop. The kid's guardian basically yelled at my mother for asking her little snowflake to behave.

Funny, he was perfectly capable, because he didn't kick my mom's seat the rest of the flight.

SqueakySqueak · 03/08/2014 16:32

I'm just surprised that a range of unrelated children from such a huge age range were behaving like this.

Me too. Are you sure you weren't just cranky from the flight and little deals were big deals OP? I have a hard time seeing a 15 year old running around and bouncing on the seats.

RatherBeOnThePiste · 03/08/2014 16:33

Have been on two flights now to the States where children have been seated in normal and the parents in first. Kid you not. Left to their own devices. Having said that they behaved ok and the parents checked. But still!

Gave us ideas it did.

CalamitouslyWrong · 03/08/2014 16:33

The last time we went on holiday, a couple of lazy buggers tried to dump their two children (one was a toddler) on us while waiting for a very delayed plane. The mother went to sleep and the dad wandered off, leaving their small children with us (because DS2 was about the same age as their eldest). DH and I decided to move somewhere else. and told the children that they should just wake their mother up. Apparently they weren't allowed to do that.

They were sitting behind us on the plane. They dumped the elder child on a passenger in another row and let their youngest be a complete pain in the arse. The mother simply went to sleep (or, at least, pretended to). Clearly they didn't believe that ensuring their children don't annoy everyone else was their responsibility.

I don't actually think the problem is children. You get dreadfully behaved, selfish, annoying adults on flights too. The problem is that increasing numbers of people do not give a shit about anyone else. When those people have children, they just let them run riot.

CalamitouslyWrong · 03/08/2014 16:35

RatherBeOnThePiste: the parents being in first class was a contributing factor to Macauley culkin being left home alone, I seem to recall.

HeySoulSister · 03/08/2014 16:35

Awful behaviour. What is it lately, MN is full of stories like this...

KERALA1 · 03/08/2014 16:36

Maybe it's a class thing? We are on an island where several resorts have hotels with cheap packages. The demographic on our flight was non middle class (non Biden, lots of tattoos, baseball caps and children called Jayden and Keira). Flight was full of children and it was a longish flight of 4 hours. All were beautifully behaved and kept entertained by parents I was so impressed.

desertmum · 03/08/2014 16:43

slightly different but flight related and very topical on MN. On a flight last week, last 5 people boarded (late); mother, father and three kids, mother stood at the front of the plane and stated very very loudly 'we have an awful problem, we aren't all seated together' and looked round waiting for something magical to happen. Everyone went back to reading their books, watching their ipads and ignored them. They ended up sitting separately as the crew told them to sit down as we had to leave NOW or we would miss our slot.

We need a Mumsnet Eye Spy book so we can tick off these irritating situations as we see them - this would be my first tick.

Am I showing my age re the Eye Spy book ? Loved them when I was a kid.

storytopper · 03/08/2014 16:46

I have flown short-haul lots of times - only a few times long haul - and I must say I have been lucky with the behaviour of children apart from the occasional seat-kicker. Most of the selfish behaviour has come from adults.

I have a friend who is an air hostess and she says that some parents believe it is the role of flight crew to entertain children and discipline them - they just completely switch off. I wonder what they are like when they get to their destination - exactly the same, I suppose.

Muskey · 03/08/2014 16:49

I love the idea that if you say that you are not sitting together really loudly someone will sort it out for you especially if you are late getting on board. I must be doing something wrong

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 03/08/2014 16:57

My dsis had a chair kicker on her last trip over. Kick kick, slam the tray down, kick kick, slam the tray back. Mum ignored her, then went to the loo, dsis asked her if she would mind not letting snowflake (about 8)do it. Mum shrugged and went off. Kid poked tongue out at dsis. Dsis waited till kid had a (cold) drink then reclined her seat quickly.

Neverknowingly · 03/08/2014 16:57

have to say that I have had no greater problem with under aged seat kickers than adult knee diggers!

we're taking ds(4) dd(2) and LO (6 months to Australia in January. will be interesting in many ways!

TheBogQueen · 03/08/2014 16:58

I hate all the middle aged people getting pissed, stuffing their faces with the horrible food, farting while in line for the toilet and making cats bum faces at the children.

Hate flying

AmericasTorturedBrow · 03/08/2014 16:58

I just don't get it - I do transatlantice flights fairly regularly with my two (4 return flights in the last 2.5yrs)...they've been aged newborn-2.5 and 3-5.5yrs

My biggest fear is them playing up and me getting evils from fellow passengers, so I load up the iPad, take on their favourite snacks, do what I can to make them comfortable enough to sleep. I apologise if they're being annoying and am generally grateful for others' patience when they appreciate that a 4yr old might be creaming because his ears are in pain on the descent or I can't help a 9month old projectile vomiting and having diarrhea every 40mins for 10hours (yes that did happen, Thankyou for the lovely group of 20 something's say in front of us who offered to entertain Dc1 while I was stuck in the toilet the whole flight perpetually cleaning up DC2)

But the behaviour you all describe - I don't get it. My kids, my problem, my responsibility to make them behave! Surely letting your children run rampant is more stressful?!

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 03/08/2014 16:58

Musket I'm going to do that so I can move from dsil next week?

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